. >> reporter: ascardinalsjosephratzinger, hewas labelled god's rottweiler. he was shown a gentle side. never more so than meeting with sex abuse victims in his 2008 trip in the u.s. he saved his biggest surprise for last says john thamus who covered the vatican for 30 years. >> he will be remembered as the pope who resigned. it will be greatest gift to the church. >> reporter: currently, the conclave to elect the successor to benedict xvi is to happen between march 15th and march 20th. there is talk of moving that date up. all of the cardinals are expected to be here on february 28th. alex, back to you. >>> anne thompson, thank you. the blame game on tsequestratio. the new york times says those will cut 14,000 teachers and employees. and 250,000 civilians employed by the army could be furloughed for up to 22 days. aircraft would forego maintenance. >> it's the president who proposed this sequester. is the house with smarter cuts in other areas of government. >> the fact is this was never the president's idea. this was the result of hostage politics in the republican party. this is wha